


Electrical Stimulation

by tirsynni



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 00:35:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11264322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tirsynni/pseuds/tirsynni
Summary: Link remembered Urbosa except for how he didn't, and Sidon helps more than he knows.





	Electrical Stimulation

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the sheer amount of times I electrocuted Link in a thirty minute span. Sorry, Link.

Link remembered Urbosa. 

That thought repeated itself over and over in his mind until the words barely had meaning. Link left behind her smiling, dead face as his numb fingers tapped the Sheikah Slate. He remembered her but he  _ didn’t _ , the memories clear like someone else’s photographs in his mind.

But he remembered her. He remembered her voice and her laughter and even when she once knocked Revali from the sky for too teasing too harshly. No emotion accompanied the memories. Just mental photographs, like Princess Zelda’s pictures on the Sheikah Slate.

Every other time he warped, his skin would tingle for minutes, sometimes for hours afterwards. This time, Link felt nothing when he warped, not even when he fell to his knees. He heard the impact of bone on stone but felt nothing. Link shook his head and stared at a familiar set of stairs. Water flowed over the steps, gentle and soothing, and Link breathed in the damp air. He hadn’t realized he had chosen this shrine.

Resting on his knees, Link focused on breathing that sweet, clear air. He had been healed within the Divine Beast, but it was like his body couldn’t let go of those electric shocks. Phantom pain still stuttered in his chest. 

Rest at the inn, and then Death Mountain, to the last Divine Beast. Just one more to go. A little rest and then…

The Sheikah Slate fell with a clatter as he fell forward onto his palms. The fine hair on his arms still stood on end, just now settling under the moisture in the air. It cooled the phantom burns on his skin.

There was a commotion ahead of him. One more minute, Link promised himself, and then he would investigate. Just enough to get his breath back. 

He should probably stop back at Gerudo Town and then go to Death Mountain. Did they understand that it was done? Would they see Urbosa atop Vah Naboris?

Link remembered her but  _ didn’t _ , and he felt all the more empty for it.

“Master Link! Are you all right?”

Bazz. Link exhaled and tried to push himself into a sitting position. Bazz knelt beside him -- since when? -- and helped ease him onto his heels. Bazz ran his hands over him, as if feeling for injuries. Link smiled wryly. He would find none. He was healed.

If only his body could recognize that.

Link waved at him, as if to explain that. All right, just needed rest. Bazz frowned. “What happened to you?”

Lightning. Lots of lightning. Link shivered and, healed or not, still felt it crackle over his skin, felt it char flesh, felt his heart skip in his chest.

Urbosa had gifted him with her lightning. She wouldn’t need it anymore.

Then Sidon was kneeling on his other side. “My friend, are you well? You look so pale! Come, come. We must get you to a healer!”

Seeing Sidon’s face, hearing his voice, helped Link relax even more than the damp air did. He had no time to dwell on it before he realized that the entrance to the shrine was blocked by half a dozen worried Zoras. Link flushed and brushed off both Sidon’s and Bazz’s hands, pushing himself to his feet. He wobbled and they both exclaimed in worry, but Link ignored them. Flushed with embarrassment, Link managed a half-wave to the Zora. See? He was fine. Not a single injury in sight!

He turned to Sidon and tried his best smile -- see? Everything was fine! -- and steadied his feet under him. He was the Hero, Hyrule’s Champion. He was  _ fine _ . 

Sidon studied him, and Link hated how worry tightened his face, dulled his eyes. He was fine. He even remembered Urbosa. 

Had Sidon known her? Had he known the Champions?

Link’s smile faltered, and Sidon reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “Bazz, Link has obviously been through a great deal and needs rest. I will take him up to the East Reservoir. Please, find me there and alert me if we are needed.”

“Of course, my prince!” Bazz squeezed Link’s bicep before he left and Link thought he managed a smile at him, too. He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t remember.

Link was so tired, yet it felt like electricity still thrummed under his skin. 

The walk to the East Reservoir was a blur, but Link made sure to walk straight, face blank. He was fine and he remembered Urbosa and she grinned the same fierce grin that she did in death that she had in life. She hit Revali for him once, Link told himself, and she had grinned the same grin then, too.

Perhaps it was her lightning under his skin, not the Calamity’s. Perhaps it would never go away.

Then Link was sitting, and he blinked up at Sidon as the Zora knelt on the floor beside the bed. He hadn’t even noticed they arrived. “My friend,” Sidon began, and he cupped Link’s cheek. Link lost what he said after that, resting against Sidon’s large palm.

This was why he had come here. Sidon’s warm touch, the strength of him that never gave up, the solidity of him when Link was surrounded by ghosts.

Silence but for the lap of the water against stone, Sidon’s gentle breathing, the cry of a hawk above them. Link kept his eyes closed and just listened, let everything else fade away for a moment.

He remembered Urbosa, he wanted to tell Sidon, except he was terrified Sidon would ask for more. 

“You are doing so well, Link! You saved three of the Divine Beasts. Soon, I know you will have all four, and Calamity Ganon will not be able to stand against you. I am so proud of you, my friend!”

Link smiled sleepily and raised both hands to hold Sidon’s against his cheek. He felt Sidon’s free hand stroke his head, free his hair from its tangled ponytail. His claws scraped soothingly against his scalp. 

“My friend, you are so amazing. When this is over, I will tell you exactly how much.”

Something in Sidon’s tone soothed the last of the tremors from Link’s chest. He breathed out and nuzzled Sidon’s hand. He heard Sidon’s breath catch. Sidon coughed. “But, ah, but first you must rest! I will stay with you so you can sleep easily. No harm will come to you while I’m here.”

When Sidon tried to settle Link back onto the bed, Link resisted. Not opening his eyes, he pawed at Sidon until Sidon relented, curling up with Link. Even with his eyes closed, Sidon seemed enormous to him, body large and soothing and --

Urbosa, wrapped around Princess Zelda’s sleeping form, a smile on her face similar to Sidon’s when Sidon looked at him. “Soon, when this is all over,” she promised, and then she winked at Link like Link was in on the secret.

Except Link had been. He  _ remembered _ that, remembered that moment like it was his own memory instead of someone else’s photo. He remembered how she had touched Zelda’s hand with her own, and Link consciously mimicked that with Sidon’s hand now, holding it close to his chest. He remembered how Urbosa had raised Zelda’s hand like she wanted to kiss it but stopped herself, and he raised Sidon’s hand to his lips and gently kissed it.

Sidon’s body jerked behind him. “Link?” he choked out.

Link didn’t answer. He pushed back into Sidon, felt Sidon wrap an arm around his waist and pull him even closer. Then, at last, he let himself go limp and rest.

Soon, Urbosa and Sidon both promised, and soon Link would be done. The Divine Beasts and Princess Zelda would be free, Calamity Ganon defeated.

Then Link could work on making fresh memories.


End file.
